Black for the Summer

Happy New Year! I have had a two week break from Style Smorgasbord because I wanted to recharge, reflect and redirect my energy towards the holiday season. Whilst we should aim to improve upon ourselves daily, the first day of the year is always a great ritual of self assessment that demands personal honestly and reinforces humility. Instead of coming up with new year resolutions for 2016, I decided to create a list of 101 things I want to achieve in 1001 days. You can see my list here. 

I would say I am a very excitable person. Thusly, I rarely wear black especially head to toe black. However, I love a good oxymoron and black in the summer is refreshingly that. I received this boater for Christmas and plan to wear it forever. The brim is wonderfully wide and perfectly practical and adding it to any outfit just makes me feel like I am on vacation somewhere tropical.

Hat / Top / Skirt / Scarf

/ Photography Credits – Matthew /

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Black & Blue & Sporty All Over

Mid semester exams are over and mid semester break is two weeks away. To celebrate, the weather decided to be absolutely beautiful this sunny Saturday and going bare legged was the best feeling. My last two weeks have been crazy hectic and I need to catch up on notes, fitness and social media. At the beginning of the week I finally brought home a copy of Lola Berry’s Happy Cookbook which I am very excited to try. I thought I would finally get it at almost 50% off the RRP at Kmart because that book has been on my mind since the beginning of the year. There’s some pumpkin pie pancakes which I hope to recreate and 130 other super nutritious treats in the book.

I would pick navy over black any day. Its the more preppy sister of black and together they create a very modern palette. Despite lack of photographic evidence, I have my heavily featured Nike Roshes on my feet to tie the outfit together. Now that I have done jeans with runners and short skirts with runners, the only bottom I haven’t been brave enough to try is maxi skirts. The sporty aesthetic is still here to stay so I believe I still have some time to find a maxi skirt that won’t swamp me. Remember when I said SS Brunch would become a regular thing? … Yeah that didn’t happen but in my next post I do have a SS Brunch and we talk summer vacations, cheesy music and Starbucks mugs so look out for it on Thursday. As always, have a brill week filled with glorious sun 🙂

Crop: Country Road / Bomber: H&M / Skirt: Sportsgirl

Create

I may preach all this motivational bull but I’d like to just point out that I am such a hot mess haha. Case in point, after I wore this skirt for 3 hours, I promptly split the back hem after I made too big of a stride in the unforgiving hills of Sydney’s CBD. This is a momentous blog post because it is the first of hopefully many future posts where I foray into a new style of dressing. Join me as I embark on a journey to find things to wear that aren’t always black … starting with this great khaki midi skirt that does not require an ounce of ironing.

Top (old) / New Look blazer / Forever New skirt / Tony Bianco heels / MK Parker Watch / Essie ‘Urban Jungle’

Varsi-Prep

The rest of the garden is brown, wet and sad but then there are these lovely hot pink camellias in the dead of autumn. Always look on the sunnier side kids. Oh, and always wear your clothes back to front because if T-Swizzle is doing it (exhibit a, b, c, etc.), we should all do it too. Pictured here is a very much loved sweatshirt worn back to front, my chiffon collared shirt, the only pair of jeans I really wear, white cons and my good old ray-bans. They call it varsi-prep*. Well at least that’s what I call it! Thank God Its Friday (tomorrow) and have a great weekend!

*As in a cross between varsity and preppy, shoutout to Adela for the inspo x 

Blaze of Glory

I am really uncool. Like watch The Big Bang Theory on Friday nights (GUYS SHAMY!), crack dad jokes and prone to flushing from any kind of alcohol consumption kind of uncool. But these shades make me feel hella cool and when I leave my house I imagine I’m off to my warehouse converted to office sharespace where I lounge around in curvy chairs and think of fresh ideas to make the world more yeezus. In reality, I’m just off for the daily commute where I spend 40 minutes reading about influential people in The Collective and Times but let me do me, kay?

The outfit unpicked:

Plaid on plaid, yes on yes. Miss Shop Coat (similar) and Old Button Down (similar)

Shadiest Shades from Ray-Ban

The best tee ever which I have worn here and here from Lil Muse Clothing (c/o)

Leggings for speed walking across campus from Dotti get them in store for 60% off

Fresh new Converse for ruining from Urban Outfitters 

Camo The Colour

Camo The Colour like Cameo The Label … I try not to explain my punniness 99% of the time but sometimes I need to toot my own horn because I’m just so dang funny. I also realise now that camo is more of a colour and less of a pattern but let’s not get all nick picky people.

I think Nauen said last week that you learn a lot at university. I certainly did. Lesson Number One: Don’t wear denim cutoffs. Especially if you have to catch the train and then sit for 4 hours straight. After making that mistake about 3 times, I finally decided it was time to start wearing pants even though that would mean succumbing to that autumn weather that is inevitably looming since it looks like the entire easter long weekend will be raining. 

Nonetheless I’m so ecstatic about the easter long weekend … hello cake on a stick, warmed up hot cross buns, bunny onesies and easter eggs!! More on that next week!

 Pants H&M 50% off in store! // Collared Shirt Similar Here // Brogues Similar Here 

Lippy Lippy Bang Bang

I never really go and buy a whole new outfit for an event anymore. I think these are all great basic formal pieces that everyone should have in their closet: a fitted black blazer for shouldering, a bustier because you’re fun like that, a black circle skirt for twirling, pointy toe flats because they’re better than heels and a tiny box clutch with that extra bit of magic. Happy Wednesday guys!

Blazer: Bardot (similar here) Bustier: Bardot (75% off!) Skirt: Sportsgirl (similar here) Flats: Sammydress Clutch: DIY

Birds of a Feather Mirror Together

I’ve actually been on a three week shooting hiatus so I decided today was the day to get off my behind and and put it in this wild midi number from Lil Muse. I have to admit, I’m not a big animal print person … I think this is the first animal print that has ever made its way into my wardrobe. Animal print frankly scares me but I threw myself in the deep end by trying out a double animal print mirrored midi body con skirt. What a mouthful! All full of words that usually do not exist in my closet vocabulary!

Making a statement can be terrifying. Committing to pink hair, a sleeve tattoo or a house made of glass would be impractical for most of us. For those brave souls who have that level of commitment, I applaud you. That doesn’t mean the rest of us can shy away from standing out every once in a while and I honestly can’t think of a better non-permanent form of expression than the way you dress. So go on, try that tucked away piece in your wardrobe and let that feeling of liberation wash over you.

Initially, when I started SS I was determined not to put outfit details at the bottom. I wanted SS to be simply a source of inspiration not an add to cart type of a site. More recently, I have been receiving messages and emails asking me where certain details are from so from this day forth, I will try my best to put details at the bottom. Keeping in mind, I’m just a broke student so sometimes my stuff is from two seasons ago and will not be available anymore. Today’s outfit however is still available online so I definitely recommend you check out the top and shoes since they are heavily discounted!

Top: Cotton On KN Alanis Cut Away Crop Skirt: (c/o) Lil Muse Snake of Paradise Skirt Shoes: Betts Slave Heel in Stone

Handy Dandy Rings

Dandelions remind me of cacti up close which is funny because they’re so soft and delicate and cacti are prickly and hard. The word actually hails from the French word dent-de-lion, meaning “lion’s tooth”. Oh the irony! Today I’m collaborating with Elyia which is an Australian owned, Melbourne based silver jewellery company. So on Monday you got a Melbourne blogger and today you get a Melbourne brand!

I think the word ‘Elyia’ is so beautiful and the meaning behind it is too. It actually originates from the Tamil word meaning ‘simple’ and that is what Elyia revolves around; simple, beautiful and affordable pieces you can wear everyday. They also come in the cutest little tin boxes that are perfect for presents! My personal favourite in their collection is the one I’m wearing today. It’s called the Bar Ring in Rose Gold and the definition of understated jewellery. This is the ring equivalent of the very popular bar necklaces and would look lovely stacked or by itself. I am like a bee to honey when it comes to rose gold but this ring also comes in classics like silver and gold if that’s more your style!

I decided to pair my Bar Ring in Rose Gold with my also rose gold arrow bracelet and chevron and butterfly fit and flare dress. Oh and guess what!?!? I have finally learnt the secret to achieving these curls that I’ve been seeing on Southern Curls & Pearls for so so long. A lot of tutorials usually recommend brushing your hair out to get that bouncy feel but if I did that on my thickass hair, it would just be an explosion! So now I just use a one inch iron and wrap it around a tong without using the clamp as if it was clamp-less.

Bar Ring (c/o) // Tie The Knot Ring // Diamond Ring 

A Gal at Bal

According to the Urban Dictionary, definition number seven, chinos are: A type of trouser made from chino cloth. Although they are very comfortable and soft, they come in the most grotesque colours possible which really makes them stand out. The fact that they are sold in excess in stores such as Abercrombie and Jack Wills doesn’t help their reputation much either. Chinos, the everyday hipster’s choice of trouser wear. So what then are chino shorts? To me they are the conservative short, which means they are the perfect piece to go with the bustier – a garment Victorian women wore to get their va va voom on. Since I have no desire to show off too much skin, I decided to pop on this light see through chiffon shirt and one button it up all easy breezy.

There you have it, all ready to set sail! Or at least walk along the boardwalk. How lovely does Balmoral look on this cloudy Saturday? I think the cool tones are the perfect complement to my sailing appropriate look and I love how bright the pictures turned out. Sometimes, a picture sans blue sky is really okay after all! And where do sailors brunch? The Balmoral Boathouse of course! Get the quinoa bircher it could seriously feed three!

Today was actually meant to be a DIY post and the last post in my New Year series but Optus decided to cut my internet for two days because the roof of a tower fell off or something so I have been in agony for the past 60 hours. It got to the point where I turned up two hours early to a party so I could use the host’s internet (thank you beb) and stood in front of the Apple store for an hour to leech off their fast wifi. Sue me, I’m so twenty first century.

The footless seagul { :(((( } and food shot by me, outfit shot by Adela